The Indian Premier League has revolutionized cricket, I mean the very corporatization of cricket has really increased the value of cricketers in general even the ones who will probably never make it to their National teams, but then who cares one would probably make more money here than on any other cricketing ground?

Come this April 3rd 2013, another round of IPL starts, again players will play swoosh swoosh with their bat and ball in a desperate attempt to impress their fans and more importantly corporate stakeholders. From my humble readings and the grapevine generated comes media, the truth that comes across is a very dark picture where the game of cricket just gets lost in the murky world of corporate spreadsheets, with franchise owners doing everything possible to ensure that their investments bears rich benefits.

The Players are just part of this umbrella investment scheme and are under extreme pressure to perform, batsman losing his wicket… bowler getting hit for a six… fielder dropping a catch…a silly misfield all are just considered mistakes not to be done in the brawny players room.

The very sight of players being auctioned off in the preceding months among the corporate honchos is disgraceful in the name of cricket. So a player whose report card has really good grades and the chances are that he will perform get’s the highest attention, however a player who for xyz reasons has just not brought in the numbers is traded like a cheap commodity or rather left untouched.

I feel really sad, it kind of reminds of the world that Rancho played by Aamir khan abhorred in 3Idiots, the entire rat-race kind of world wherein if you don’t perform on the high stage you perish. I pretty sure that only the ones who performed well in last year’s IPL series will be the big ticket players, while others would didn’t perform would just probably not get selected.

Tickets of matches are like Circus tickets and depending on how close you want to get to the ring action they range right from Rs 500 to some say about Rs 5000. Man I still find it difficult to consume that people are ready to shell out Rs 5000 for a match that is just a few hours long.

Readers don’t get me wrong I am not against the IPL franchise, it has brought in a lot of advantages as lots of players talent get the opportunity to be showcased, a lot of new players will emerge!!,

Players whose bread and butter is soley cricket will get a good harvest time through cricket and endorsements. But in my view there needs to be better moderation, the very sight of players being treated as commodity, I really find unappealing!

Do let me knows if you agree or differ in my opinion above. The IPL series is indeed a big one; let’s keep a healthy discussion thread going, depending on interest generated will keep posting blogs on exciting topics.